Earlier this week, Nokia unveiled its latest smartphone, the Nokia N9. The N9 is the struggling company’s first smartphone which runs the open sourced MeeGo operating system, a joint collaboration between Nokia’s Maemo project and Intel’s Moblin software. It is also the company’s first smartphone in at least three years, which is why many people have generally been excited to hear about it and get their hands on it. Predictably, the Nokia N9 was met with a disenchanted press upon its release. Although Nokia is still a dominant mobile manufacturer, the company has struggled to compete in the high-end smartphone market against slick touchscreen rivals for quite some time. Current Nokia smartphones such as the N8, the C7, and the E7 are sluggish and unintuitive when compared to their rivals – including Apple’s infamous iPhone. The iPhone isn’t the only one that outshines the current Nokia phones as there is a large number of Google Android smartphones along with other manufacturers such as HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson. In February, Nokia announced that it would be switching its main focus to producing Windows Phone 7 powered smartphones for its premium devices. The Symbian software that powers current smartphones, including the latest N8, C7, and E7 devices, will continue to be supported with both software updates and a range of new models (up to 10 new Symbian-based smartphones are scheduled to release within the next year) but Nokia’s “primary smartphone strategy” will be focusing on Windows Phone 7 smartphones. Knowing that makes the launch of the MeeGo-powered Nokia N9 more than a little confusing. Most analysts believe the success and strength of rival ecosystems such as Apple and Google will leave little room for smartphones like the N9 which many expect to be a niche device. Nokia seems to be perfectly content with that and says the N9 aims to “showcase new ways to use a smartphone.” The company’s CEO, Stephen Elop has revealed that many of the N9?s user interface features may be seen on upcoming Nokia Windows Phone 7 devices, the first of which are expected to hit the market at the end of this year. Regardless of Nokia’s Windows Phone 7 strategy, the fact remains that Nokia smartphones with Microsoft software are still months away from becoming a reality. In between then and now, Nokia remains well behind its competition and simply waiting for a Windows Phone device to change the company’s fortunes would be a disastrous move. The N9 seems to fill the gape in the meantime, and will atleast give Nokia a credible, refreshing, and new alternative. It helps that several software developers are showing general and genuine interest in the device and are excited for the release. It is a possibility that the software developers will help the N9 reach a place beyond it’s expectations. Have you checked out Nokia’s N9? Are you interested in getting it or at the very least seeing what features everyone is discussing regarding the device? Let us know what you think in the comments below! As usual, stay tuned for more news and info on the topic by following us on Facebook, Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feed. Authors: